Arizona’s universities may regain money stripped away in this year’s budget cuts, but only if the state provides enough education funding to qualify for the federal stimulus package.

Rep. John Kavanagh, R-Fountain Hills, said state officials need to understand the U.S. Department of Education’s guidelines to make sure Arizona qualifies.

“There’s the issue of interpreting some of the stimulus rules,” said Kavanagh, chairman of the Arizona House of Representatives Appropriations Committee. “At this point, we’re not 100 percent sure [what they are].”

Tentative guidelines require that each state funds education at least at the level it did in 2006 in order to qualify for the federal money.
Governors requesting funds must assure the department that their state can maintain this level of funding through 2011.

But if a state receives stimulus money, it must increase education funding at either 2008 or 2009 levels — whichever had the most money.
The requirements of 2006- or 2008-level funding had officials questioning if Arizona currently qualifies for its share of the education stimulus money of more than $800 million.

After this year’s cuts, the 2009 university system’s budget of $938 million falls about $154 million below the 2008 budget and about $78 million above the 2006 budget.

If more money needs to be directed to education to qualify for the stimulus, Kavanagh said the Legislature would probably take money from another department and try to restore it with noneducation stimulus funds when they come in.

“There’s only so much water in the bucket,” he said. “When you go down to the ultimate bottom line, someone else will have to take the cut.”

The U.S education department can waive a state’s requirement to maintain a certain level of education funding through 2011 if a governor feels their state cannot do so.

Jim Bradshaw, a spokesman for the U.S. Department of Education, said officials are working with several states to grant waiver requests, although he was unsure of Arizona’s level of involvement in the discussions.

“Next week we probably will be announcing more details about how we are going to be distributing the funds across the country,” he said.

Further details about the department’s guidelines may come out next week as well, Bradshaw said, as the current ones are only drafts.
And with those details, more clarification may arise.

“It gets pretty complex in a hurry, as far as this stimulus package goes,” he said.

Ernest Calderon, vice president of the Arizona Board of Regents, said he believes Arizona will have to restore some portion of its education funding before it gets stimulus money , though he was not sure how much.
Calderon said he hopes Gov. Jan Brewer does not ask to waive the requirement to maintain funding at a higher level over the next three years.

“Higher education in particular has been disproportionately cut,” he said. “To apply for a waiver — I think that would just be tragic.”

Whether it is required or not, Calderon said legislators must reconsider the budget cuts made to education this year.

“When it comes to higher education, they have to try to go ahead and undo, or at least ameliorate, the cuts to education to the extent they can,” he said. “Ultimately, we’ll have to see how it plays out.”

Reach the reporter at adam.sneed@asu.edu